The days By the Ganges- Urvesh Bhatt and Hanisha Galani

Book: The days By the Ganges

Authors: Urvesh Bhatt and Hanisha Galani

Publisher: Blue Rose Publications

“The Days by the Ganges” is a travelogue, written in first person by the author, who is deeply mesmerized by the beauty of the place. The 170-page ride takes the reader through the lanes of Hrishikesh and introduces us to the well-known & some not so well-known places of the Himalayan paradise.

What works in the book is the account of the places as they are discovered and how the narrator perceives them. The snippets of the interaction with the localites are a wonderful way of relating to the places and it brings out the stories that are told about those places wonderfully. The part where he starts his journey from Delhi in the bus is wonderfully described and is well written. Another part of the book which is captivating the feeling that the visits to each of the places brought out, be it the chaurasi kutiya or the river rafting activity. The reader gets immersed in the sight seeing and it is almost as if you are seeing the place with the narrator’s eyes. The descriptions of the places are accurate and help in creating a word picture of the places.

Though most of it is good, there are somethings that take a bit of the charm away. One of those is the excessive use of thesaurus. There are word substitutions that should not have happened. The literal meaning of those words is correct but the sentences do not make sense. The later part of the book where he was only focusing going back to Hrishikesh is a tad bit long.

And not to sound like a grammar Nazi, but there are multiple grammatical mistakes in the book that could have been done with in the editorial stage.

All in all, a decent read. 

I would rate the book 3.5/5.